The War Illustrated

The Voice of the Empire

The Poets & The War V

If my work is over and if in vain I hoped at the close of life
That peace would fall with the evening, not passion and hate and strife,
I can still give thanks as my sun goes down for one treasure of passing worth,
The faith that was staunch to the motherland of her sons at the ends of the earth,
When she called them all into council and their splendid answer came,
Their pledge in an issue greater than conquest, profit or fame,
That people should live in freedom, unfettered in word or thought,
And hold the land that their fathers held and the faith that their fathers taught.
From the isles of all the oceans, from the north to the tropic sun
We have heard the homing voices, and the soul of their voice was one –
She has carried the flag of freedom over many an unplumbed wave,
Saint George's cross at the masthead, to liberate not to enslave.
She sheltered us in our childhood. We are nations now full-grown.
If Britain must draw her sword once more she shall not draw alone
With a single voice in a common cause we bid the challenger know
We stand with the Mother Country, and where she leads we go.